By PAUL DOYLE, pdoyle@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, September 7, 2012

How does the "Big East/West/North/South" sound? Or perhaps the "Really, Really Big East?" Get your suggestions rolling, because the old venerable basketball conference may be rebranding. Former Big East interim Commissioner Joe Bailey said at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in New York Thursday that the conference has commissioned a study concerning a name change or tweak, according to a Businessweek.com story. The Big East, of course, is adding schools in San Diego, Boise, Houston and Memphis, among other outposts.

Alfredo DiLascia, who owns a photography studio in Suffield, is connected to Ernie Davis, the great Syracuse running back and Heisman Trophy winner the movie "The Express" is based on. DiLascia, an end, played against Davis in high school. Both were named to the Binghamton (N.Y.) Press All-Star team in 1956. DiLascia e-mailed The Courant last week, saying he most remembers playing against Davis' Elmira Free Academy team when it was ranked first in New York State in DiLascia's senior year: "A coach of a rival team told me that every time Ernie Davis is going to run with the ball, he points his foot in that direction.

QB Dan Orlovsky vs. Syracuse CB Tanard Jackson This is the kind of game in which the Huskies look to Orlovsky more than usual. Leadership in big games, particularly on the road in a hostile environment, becomes as important as execution. If Cornell Brockington is hampered, Chris Bellamy can step in at running back without much of a drop-off. But Orlovsky has to have a strong game for the Huskies to win. Jackson and CB Thomas Whitfield are in their first season as starters for the Orange.

By PAUL DOYLE, pdoyle@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, September 7, 2012

How does the "Big East/West/North/South" sound? Or perhaps the "Really, Really Big East?" Get your suggestions rolling, because the old venerable basketball conference may be rebranding. Former Big East interim Commissioner Joe Bailey said at the Bloomberg Sports Business Summit in New York Thursday that the conference has commissioned a study concerning a name change or tweak, according to a Businessweek.com story. The Big East, of course, is adding schools in San Diego, Boise, Houston and Memphis, among other outposts.

Three inches of snow already had carpeted Kensington Street when Floyd Little heard a knock on the door. He had returned home only a day earlier from West Point, where he had left stern officers in awe. It was late December 1961, and 47 colleges from all over America, Army to Notre Dame, were chasing this running back from New Haven. Only one would catch him. Coach Ben Schwartzwalder had an unfair advantage. He showed up, unannounced, in a snowstorm with an impressive-looking stranger.

It was difficult for Floyd Little to say "No thank you" to the Army football recruiter because he wasn't just speaking to an assistant coach. Or even the head coach. He was talking to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. "His presence, my God, Douglas MacArthur asking me to go to Army," Little recalled. Little, a splendid running back from Hillhouse High School in New Haven, had moved on to Bordentown Military Institute, a prep school in New Jersey. He had 47 scholarship offers from such schools as Pittsburgh, Purdue, Oklahoma and UCLA.

John Lobon knows his life changed during a phone call home to Hartford in the fall of 1970. He was one of nine Syracuse University football players boycotting the season to protest racial inequities within the school's athletic department. They wanted the school to hire an African American assistant coach and offer better medical support. They wanted improved academic counseling. And they wanted coaches to stop calling them "boy" and referring to their hair as "fuzz." The demands were met with resistance.

Alfredo DiLascia, who owns a photography studio in Suffield, is connected to Ernie Davis, the great Syracuse running back and Heisman Trophy winner the movie "The Express" is based on. DiLascia, an end, played against Davis in high school. Both were named to the Binghamton (N.Y.) Press All-Star team in 1956. DiLascia e-mailed The Courant last week, saying he most remembers playing against Davis' Elmira Free Academy team when it was ranked first in New York State in DiLascia's senior year: "A coach of a rival team told me that every time Ernie Davis is going to run with the ball, he points his foot in that direction.

John Lobon knows his life changed during a phone call home to Hartford in the fall of 1970. He was one of nine Syracuse University football players boycotting the season to protest racial inequities within the school's athletic department. They wanted the school to hire an African American assistant coach and offer better medical support. They wanted improved academic counseling. And they wanted coaches to stop calling them "boy" and referring to their hair as "fuzz." The demands were met with resistance.

QB Dan Orlovsky vs. Syracuse CB Tanard Jackson This is the kind of game in which the Huskies look to Orlovsky more than usual. Leadership in big games, particularly on the road in a hostile environment, becomes as important as execution. If Cornell Brockington is hampered, Chris Bellamy can step in at running back without much of a drop-off. But Orlovsky has to have a strong game for the Huskies to win. Jackson and CB Thomas Whitfield are in their first season as starters for the Orange.

It was difficult for Floyd Little to say "No thank you" to the Army football recruiter because he wasn't just speaking to an assistant coach. Or even the head coach. He was talking to Gen. Douglas MacArthur. "His presence, my God, Douglas MacArthur asking me to go to Army," Little recalled. Little, a splendid running back from Hillhouse High School in New Haven, had moved on to Bordentown Military Institute, a prep school in New Jersey. He had 47 scholarship offers from such schools as Pittsburgh, Purdue, Oklahoma and UCLA.

Three inches of snow already had carpeted Kensington Street when Floyd Little heard a knock on the door. He had returned home only a day earlier from West Point, where he had left stern officers in awe. It was late December 1961, and 47 colleges from all over America, Army to Notre Dame, were chasing this running back from New Haven. Only one would catch him. Coach Ben Schwartzwalder had an unfair advantage. He showed up, unannounced, in a snowstorm with an impressive-looking stranger.

Six Windsor High School juniors will attend the American Legion Boys State at Eastern Connecticut State University from Sunday to June 27. They will take part in a practical government course designed to develop a working knowledge of government structure. The Windsor participants are Bryan Cambria, John D'Agata, Andrew Garibay, Scott LaClair and Eric Veilleux. The students are sponsored by Lions Club of Windsor, The Exchange Club of Windsor, The Ernie Davis Memorial Fund, Konica Business Systems, Raymond McHugh Post 4740 Veterans of Foreign Wars, and The American Legion Gray-Dickinson Post 59.